Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming
by theimpossiblegrrl
Summary: Perhaps here, Jane could be different than what she really was, for a little while. Until a different need drove her back home. A Christmas present for NinaSays. Oneshot and complete.


_A/N: Happy Christmas to NinaSays, who I am glad to call my friend._

* * *

Volterra was especially beautiful around Christmas. The clear winter days revealed a sky that reminded Jane of the colour of the periwinkles that had grown wild in the meadows close to her childhood home. Sadly, she couldn't go outside and view the sky herself, not with the streets full of tourists and natives alike. Instead she had to settle for the view from her window, where she stood now, frozen as if she were a statue in the piazza below.

The door to her suite of rooms opened, and in the flash she turned, seeing the rather depressed looking vampire enter.

"Sanguini," she said. "What brings you back so soon? We thought you were still stateside. Do you already have news of the Cullen's new home?"

He nodded dourly, rubbing his bone white face. "They are in Alaska with their northern 'cousins', but will eventually move back to Washington to start a new life in that hideous town they are so fond of."

"And have you told Aro, or am I your first stop? It would be a shame if you didn't go through the proper chain of command. I'd hate to see you punished for such a breech, especially if I were to be the enforcer."

"Aro knows," Sanguini murmured, now rubbing the skin around his dark eyes as though he was trying to rid the circles beneath with just his touch. He needed to eat, soon, before the rigors of hunger overwhelmed him.

"Come then. Your hunger will affect me as well. Let's find you a nice young thing to spend a little time with," she said, moving away from the window and adjusting her black velvet robes. She held out a pale, cold hand to him, which he took with unwavering trust. They walked out together, down the corridor to a small room to the left where her food was kept.

There was a teenage girl there, no older than eighteen. She was so blonde that her hair was almost white, and her skin had once been a lovely golden tan before Jane brought her home to play. She'd grown bored with her, as she was wont to do, and was willing to give her to the one vampire who she called her friend.

Sanguini smiled, his fangs glinting in the torchlight as he turned back to Jane. "My favourite. Did someone tip you that I was on my way?"

Jane shook her head. "My favourite too, if you haven't forgotten."

The girl moaned, turning her head nervously, revealing the love bites and bite marks at her neck.

"Remind me to tell you a story about my travels when I'm done with her. I think I might have found a treat for you."

Jane leaned against the heavy door frame and watched as he played with his meal for a minute, teasing the girl's neck with soft kisses before he finally drank his fill. Jane was mesmerized by the fact that she didn't scream, not even in the moments before Sanguini ripped out her delicate throat. The girl went slack in her chains, her heart skipping a few beats before lulling into the fatal arrhythmia that ended her short life.

When he turned back around, wiping his mouth on the towel she offered him, his eyes were burgundy once more and the deep circles were gone, replaced by the healthy moon glow of a well fed vampire.

"My story?" she asked.

* * *

Aro had let her come alone to this cold, wet place. He knew she could care for herself, and though she did prefer to travel with Alec whenever possible, he was busy with other matters within the guard.

By the accounts of the Irish coven the War was over. She'd waited to come so as to not be involved with the battles against the Master who had called himself Voldemort. It wasn't the business of the Volturi, and they would not offer aid to the witches and wizards who had never offered any aid to them. Not even when Jane and Alec were about to be burned at the stake had they helped. No, the magical residents of their village had turned their back on the two teenagers who showed signs of what they called "Dark Arts".

The girl who Sanguini had said was called Luna skipped about the fields around a home that looked like it had once been destroyed, only to be put back together as ramshackle as possible. New and old wood were pieced together into a haphazard shape that seemed as though it could collapse at any moment. But Luna didn't seem to notice or care as she picked the early spring flowers, being mindful of the plants that held a fruit similar to what dangled in the earrings that swayed with each dancing step. She was barefoot, even in the damp, but didn't seem to care about the mud on her feet. In fact, the girl seemed to flourish in it, like a wood nymph who was dancing nude in the new growth of spring.

It touched Jane in places she'd forgotten existed. Not once in her very long life had she wanted to be young and free again – she'd been bound to her duty to the Volturi, the men and women who saved her and her brother from certain death.

But now … she found herself removing her shoes and outer robes down to the black shift that was the only barrier between her skin and the outside world. It was cloudy, and fog swept over parts of the land around them. She didn't shimmer in this soft light – she could have just been anyone today. Just another pale, blonde girl picking flowers, save for her eyes that glowed like garnets.

Jane walked through the grass to the girl, her feet squishing pleasantly in the mud. There was a periwinkle blooming to her left, and she stopped and picked it, swatting away an orange butterfly that had landed to take its fill of the sweet nectar that lay within.

Cautiously, she approached her, trying not to think about how delicious her blood smelled even from here, or how beautiful she would look transformed into one of them. She realized even now that she wouldn't wish this life on her, even if it meant that she would always be able to watch her dancing in the fields that surrounded Volterra, sparkling like a diamond against the sapphire sky.

This girl was special. Jane could feel her magic radiate from her, light against her own darker threads that constantly pulsed, wanting to be free. She controlled it, realizing that she never wanted to see this sweet, innocent child in pain. Absently, she wished she had not only a periwinkle to give her. Honey flowers would have been more apt, or perhaps a single violet rosebud about to bloom.

She felt almost human again, like the witch she once was, when Luna looked up at her, her silvery grey eyes smiling as wide as her lips.  
"Jane. Sanguini told me you would come," Luna said. Her voice was so dreamy and soft that Jane leaned in just to hear her better, catching not only the scent of her delicious blood, but the fragrance of her jasmine perfume and the oak of the slim wand that lay hidden in her sleeve.

"He told you about me?" Jane asked.

Luna nodded. "He said I was just what you needed."

For the first time in over a thousand years, Jane smiled. Not the vicious or cruel smile she saved for her victims, but the smile she'd always wanted to bestow on a lover.

Luna wouldn't be able to change who she was, for as long she remained on this Earth she would be a vampire who craved human blood. Even as the she reached for the pale hand that trembled slightly in spite of the illusion of assurance, Jane wanted to watch the life leave her eyes as she feasted on her warm body. It would tremble not with nervousness as it did now, but with the pain that she could cause just from a nod of her head.

But to watch her die would cause Jane a very different pain, one she decided she did not want to live with. Her control was great and terrifying as she took a breath of Luna's floral scent, thinking instead of how much better it would be to see her eyes light up with pleasure.

Perhaps here, she could be different than what she really was, for a little while. Until a different need drove her back home.

Back to the life fate gave her.


End file.
